The Path of the Savior
by Johnnieboy11
Summary: Trapped in another variation of the Milky Way Galaxy after the Fall of Cadia caused the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, a minor Eldar Craftworld finds itself stuck in a war between a humanity on the brink of extinction and an alien alliance hell-bent on ending them and the Humans. Unlikely alliances form, friendships are built and the face of the Galaxy will forever be changed
1. Prologue:Into the Jaws of Death

_The Universe is a vast expanse of insanity, especially for the inhabitants of the 42nd Millennium. _

_War, death, turmoil and fear are standard in the lives of everyone in the Galaxy of War._

_To the Eldar, it has become a disparate norm of living in these millions of years since the War in Heaven left its scars on the Galaxy. Stuck on their living Arks, the Craftworlds, the Eldar face almost daily extinction and are surrounded on all sides by enemies. One such Craftworld was Ilroh'ynn. A small warrior Craftworld, much smaller in size compared to other Eldar craftworlds._

_It was generally an agrarian world that provided food to its sister-Craftowrlds, such as Biel-Tan. They relied more on their Aspect Warriors rather than vehicles. What was more numerous, however, was its defense fleet..._

_ Its story was one of evasion of combat or standing ground until they could escape into a corridor in the Webway. Not in their last engagement... As a Human planet, known as Cadia, was cracked in half and the Eye of Terror belched out the stuff of the Warp, the ship was caught with all inhabitants and its defense fleet in a warp storm of unimaginable proportions... _

_Our story will follow their return to realspace, in a new War and with possible new alliances..._

* * *

**_Unknown Star System. M42, Y000._**

**_Aboard Craftworld Ilroh'ynn._**

Wherein the Darkness of the Warp had overtaken them, Farseer Faenbryn's migraine seemed to have vanished just as fast as it arrived... Standing to her feet sluggishly, she barked out "Status! Give me a status on the Craftworld!" and took to leaning on her Singing Spear. Her eyes swept one of the many rooms of the Infinity Circuit, to see the Warlocks and Bonesingers manning their positions, still on their feet, though the former still staggered. Her form was clad in the white and silver robes and armor and colors familiar to the Craftworlders...

"All systems are nominal... Surprisingly enough." An elder Warlock reported, eyes on his console. "And no Daemonic incursions."

Faen sighed in relief. That much went well for them... "Status on the Support Fleet?"

"All vessels accounted for. Two suffered minor damage in a collision with each-other. Shadow-class Cruisers." The Warlock once again reported... Faen gave a once-over of the section of the Infinity Circuit they were in. The Soulstones of thousands of their dead pulsed an eerie blue through the veins on the floor of the semi-organic vessel, while above, the ceilings had the faint protrusions of thick tree roots...

"Thank Isha..." Faen muttered to herself, sighing in relief. She looked up, straightening her posture and asked "Sensor report... Where are we?"

"Unknown." A Warlock answered.

"Impossible... Scan again." She ordered. The Craftworld shuddered under their feet and made the Farseer stumble. She went to the Warlock's console, to look over the data streaming in, then stopped as visuals came through from the outer hull of the Craftworld... At least thirteen strange vessels were on approach to them. And they were not of Imperial, nor other designs known to them. They were also seemingly powering weapons...

Faen growled "They fired upon us once. Shields held?"

"Best as they could. Enemy is firing directed energy at us. They refuse to answer hails." The Warlock once again answered. "Fleet Admiral Benelim is requesting permission to engage with three Cruisers and his Battleship."

"They aren't answering hails. They fired first. The Admiral may engage at will. Meanwhile, I want every sensor we have figuring out where we are and preparing a course through the Webway out of..." She paused, noticing a planet under attack by _hundreds _of similar warships, resembling more organic, deep-sea creatures than the hulls of anyone known to them. And a small picket fleet was trying to hold them off, with no avail.

The Warlock turned to the Farseer, then said "Perhaps they confused us with reinforcements for their foes... May I suggest a tactical withdrawal through the webway after we deal with the enemy vessels?"

"... I highly doubt they could've confused us. Take a look at the ships they're sinking..." Faen tapped the display on the console and it zoomed in. The ships under attack, unlike the smooth, animal-like forms of those that fired at them, were symmetrical, metallic, jet-black and geometrically designed with several angles. Their weapons were projectile based and chemical-propelled rounds... The Farseer sighed, looking around, then ordered "Keep the Craftworld behind with 10 vessels to protect it. I want the rest of our fleet to engage and support the planetary defenses..."

"The Enemy of our Enemy, Farseer...?" The Warlock spoke calmly, but Faen could feel the grin of her old friend behind the mask. She nodded.

"I'll take a squad of Avengers and one of Banshees with me to the ground. Maybe get some answers out of the people we're about to help as thanks." She answered. "Tell the Council to expect my return within the day. I'll announce any change of plans through communications." and with that, she stepped off... A short walk through the corridors of the Craftworld later and the thrumming of their weapons slamming against enemy vessels, the Farseer found herself within the Webway Matrix's room with her chosen escort. A dozen of the Aspect Warrior Path's best among her forces...

"What do we expect to find down there, Farseer?" Inquired the Banshee Exarch, her blade in its sheath...

"To put it bluntly, Mon'Keigh throwing rocks at possibly more advanced foes..." The Farseer noted, an itching feeling coming to her that the warships she saw were, perhaps... Somewhat known to her and her people. The Exarch snorted, then nodded. She had her hair caught at the top of her head in a tuft, sticking out of what would be her helmet, had she put it on. Her teal eyes glanced around the bay and her blood-red lips formed into a tiny, almost imperceptible grin. Her cheeks bore the lotus symbol of their Craftworld.

Without another word, the squadron felt the rush of the Webway-based teleporter sending them down to the surface of the planet. And as the first to step out of the light, the Farseer went bug-eyed, her mouth agape, at the sight. A city of glass and metal, burning. Rubble littering the streets. The corpses of... _Humans... _On the floor, flesh marked by the burn of Plasma...

And the most alien-looking monsters since the Tyranids sitting in front of them. A hunchback creature, clad in blue armor, with three-jointed legs and hooves instead of feet, stood before her, its four-fingered right hand clasping an even more alien design that emitted the quiet hum of an energy weapon. It cocked its lizard-like head toward them, slit pupils locking onto the Farseer... And the small, taut, stumpy-legged creatures wearing methane tanks that were near it turned too...

The alien's four jaws split. It roared, swiveling about and raising its Plasma weapon. The Farseer scowled, taking a battle-stance with her Singing Spear and saying "CEASE! Who are you!? Why are you attacking us!?"

It didn't even bother to answer, letting its Plasma weapon do the talking. The Farseer ducked under the first, fist-sized blue projectile of superheated gas and launched herself forward... The tip of her Singing Spear thrust into the Alien's chest, boiling through what felt like a layer of invisible armor, before punching through the sternum and cauterizing the wound. The creature fell afterward, limp...

And the smaller ones started skittering away, dropping the smaller plasma pistols and crying in fear. The hiss of Shuriken rounds cutting through the dense, smoke-filled air came to her. The heated projectiles slammed into the backs of the retreating creatures, making them collapse to the floor. One of the methane tanks detonated in a weak, green explosion, from one of the Shurikens...

The Farseer's ears perked up. She leaned to the right, holding onto her singing spear as a lance of lilac energy hit the ground behind her. Turning back, she cried out "SNIPER!" before raising her personal shield as another shot came in. The beam was redirected into the ground by the Psychic shield and the Farseer saw how pin-point accurate it was. She ran into cover behind some rubble herself, noticing a fallen Human Soldier, one wearing a strange battle uniform resembling that of their own Mon'Keigh Guardsmen. A neat, cauterized hole was drilled into his skull, right between his eyes.

... And he held a long-range projectile weapon in his hands. It was undamaged.

"Farseer! Are you well!?" Cried out the Exarch of the Avengers from across the street.

"I am well, Taevel! Exarch Caentys, are you still with us!?" The Farseer returned, looking back.

"I live yet, Farseer!" The Swordswoman chuckled "Little Mon'Keigh clipped my armor, though! The rounds can punch through our Wraithbone armor if focused enough!"

"Stay in cover then, Sister! See anything that could help us take the creature down, Farseer!?" Taevel yelled in inquiry, peeking out and firing a wave of Shurikens in the general direction of the creature while his Avengers stood guard. The Farseer once again eyed the weapon of the dead Human, giving it a quick once-over. She had no idea how these weapons worked and was unsure if he wanted to wield it...

"I've found a dead human where I've taken cover! He seems to have some sort of long-range projectile weapon!" She responded promptly, grabbing the weapon by the barrel and showing it to the Avengers. The Exarch shrugged, then nodded... She wanted to send it over to him, but before she could, she grabbed a rock off the ground, one of a decent size, and hurled it... The response shot came immediately as the little piece of debris was melted by a direct beam of energy.

"That's our best bet at taking it out! Farseer, how good a shot are you?" Taevel inquired, letting loose another stream of Shurikens.

"Decent at best!" She said. "This is a human weapon, Taevel! I'm not even certain how it works!"

"Their designs are similar to ours! Trigger is to fire!" Taevel snarked.

"Oh, ha ha! I didn't know you could kid in times such as these, Exarch!" She returned, gritting her teeth. She shouldered the rifle, before settling it on the broken wall she was behind and looking down the holographic, camera-like scope of the weapon. She scanned the broken buildings at the end of the boulevard they were on... A beam of energy slammed into the wall behind her, forcing her to take cover. She growled, then said "I need someone to spot it for me!"

"I'll keep my eyes on it!" Caen responded, peeking out of cover.

The Farseer turned and aimed again. A shot burnt the tip of her hair. She ducked.

"Building on the right, third window from the right, fifth floor!" Caen reported... And the Farseer aimed. She saw it in the line of the scope. A bird-like, hunchback thing, with spikes instead of a mane of hair, big, bulging eyes and a long, beak-like snout. It had a metal plate with targeting assistance systems on its right eye... She snapped off a shot as the reticule of her rifle turned red, but found it poorly calibrated, as the shot went wide to the right, punching through the wall on the creature's side and spooking it...

It started dashing to another window and before Faen got a good bead on it, it shot again, hitting the wall on her left. She tried to keep the rifle trained onto the bastard. Shooting again, the round went wide to the right once more. And, as the avian enemy repositioned, Faen noticed she was down to two rounds...

"Khaine damn it..." Taevel growled "The weapon is poorly sighted, Farseer!"

"I can do this, Taevel..." She muttered. "Hopefully. If not, all of you move through the alleys!"

She eyed the target again, trying to properly zero in the sniper on it. The human weapon was heavy, unwieldy and bore a lot of recoil from the projectile's fuel. But it had the punch to go through the walls of those buildings. Her finger twitched around the trigger as she locked onto the monster once more and... Fired... The round went wide again, but it still hit closer by a few inches to the target...

The response shot came immediately... The energy shot slammed into the comically-large camera-scope, cracking the glass. It cut the side of the Farseer's face... She hid behind cover and Taevel cried out "Farseer!" before looking to his squad and yelling "Faenbryn's been hit! Cover me!"

"Stay there!" The farseer ordered, standing back up and feeling her wound... It burned and itched, but no blood seeped out. She barked out "I've got only one more shot! Afterward, we scramble!"

The woman stood up, shouldering the rifle. She knew it went wide, high and to the right, so instead of aiming right at the creature... She aimed at a bit of cover in front of it and prayed... Breathing in, then out, then in again, then out again. The Farseer tried to steady her speeding heart... If she missed here, they had to risk approaching the Sniper and whatever allies it may have had around the rubble. And that could mean deaths...

So, as her heartbeat slowed, the Farseer looked down the broken scope. The spiderweb crack in the glass still allowed her a line of sight, though poor, on the enemy Sniper. Taking another deep breath, she waited for that precious moment between heartbeats and... Squeezed. Her eyes went wide as she heard her gunshot echo... And she saw it went wide again... But the creature's head was split wide open...

Voices came to her as she focused...

"_Target down!" _

_"Got the little fucker! Nice shot, Hitchcock!" _

_"Watch it! I got another platoon of Aliens! They don't look Covenant!"_

She cocked her head back and heard Taevel call out "Good aim, Farseer! Khaine blessed it!"

"That was not my bullet, Taevel..." She muttered, standing up and watching as, from behind the rubble, a squad of soldiers in similar battle attire to the dead man beside her appeared. They had projectile weapons trained on the group of Eldar present... Well, three of them did. The others were wounded, barely standing or hauling their dead. The fourth man, one of the wounded, but that could still haul a weapon, pushed down the rifle of one of the soldiers.

"Fucking easy on the trigger, Hotshot!" He ordered, then turned to the Eldar, an eye covered by a bandage and a strange, rear-loaded rifle in hand. He jumped down from the mound of rubble they were on and approached the Eldar. Taevel and his men raised their Shuriken Rifles and Caen appeared too, her sword drawn. Her sisters were in much the same position, except with Shuriken Pistols aimed and primed as well.

The Rifleman raised his hand, keeping the other near to his Side-arm and said "Easy does it there, folks..." calmly, before noticing the Helmetless farseer and muttering "Oh, my God, Space Elves..." before clearing his throat and calling out "Wait, wait, wait! We don't mean ya any harm! We just heard shooting and thought we found our lost Sniper!" before his gaze shifted to the left of the Eldar, or his right, and he saw the collapsed, dead man... Pursing his lips, he said "You found him like that, I hope?"

The Farseer stepped up beside Taevel and pushed his Shuriken rifle down, before saying in clear-cut English "We did... The alien sniper took him out."

"..." The man in the lead had to take a moment to register an Alien speaking English, before nodding "Alright... Alright... Covies gave you a warm greeting, then?"

"Who are these 'Covies' you keep mentioning, Human?" The Farseer inquired... The guy tilted his head toward the others... And Faen nodded, ordering to her soldiers "Weapons down! We've no reason to shoot each-other _yet_!" and approaching the man in the lead. He was about as tall as her, with an eye colored brown and black hair underneath his combat helmet.

Sighing in relief, the man lowered his hand and spoke "Phew. Thanks."

"Where are we?" She asked promptly.

"... Straight to the point, then..." He hummed, then nodded "You're on Miridem. Human Colony World currently under attack. And the Covenant? They're a bunch of interstellar assholes looking to cleanse humanity from the face of the Galaxy."

"Sounds familiar." Caen quipped, approaching the side of the Farseer and speaking "Farseer, the Aliens we've killed. They all wield Plasma weaponry. Focused enough to melt through our armors in a few shots."

"And they have Energy Shielding." Taevel added. "I've found an emitter in the armor of the one with the split mandibles."

The Human Infantryman looked past them, to see the corpses of a dozen Grunts and a dead Elite, his chest cut open. He whistled, then said "Damn... Took out a whole Platoon of Grunts. And their Elite." before looking to the Farseer and introducing himself "I'm Sergeant Michael Reaver, UNSC Marines. Though my pals just call me Mike." with a smile as he extended his hand.

The Farseer looked at his hand, then said "I'm Farseer Faenbryn, of the Craftworld _Ilroh'ynn. _Our people have engaged this 'Covenant'. What did you do to provoke their incursion with such hostility?"

"Us? Lady, what the fuck are you on about?" Another Marine, a wounded one, barked angrily.

"Private Golovkin, calm down." Sergeant Reaver ordered. He looked to the Farseer and said with as straight a face as he could've put on "19 years ago, the Covenant appeared over one of our colonies, Harvest, and mercilessly murdered everyone on it by orbital bombardment. Without warning, without answer as to why and without desire to engage in any kind of diplomatic discourse. They've declared some kinda crusade against us because they apparently consider us an affront to their gods. We've been trying to stave off absolute slaughter since then... So if we '_provoked' _them" He made air quotations sarcastically "As you think we did, Farseer, the assholes haven't been very cooperative in teaching us why."

"Aliens on a crusade against what they consider blasphemy to their gods..." Caen snorted "And against Humans of all things, Farseer. Universal poetic justice, I would call it."

"Caen." The Farseer warned, looking back to her friend.

"Hey, listen here, Samurai Gal." The Sergeant growled "We ain't done fuck-all to the Covies is what I'm trying to say. I don't know what twisted world you come from where we did the same shit to whomever, but right here? It's fucking survival. And you're stuck with us in it..." before he gripped his rifle and warned "Unless you're planning to join the Covenant in the little extermination party..."

The Farseer felt the air grow heavy and could hear the thoughts of each individual soldier... And each touched their weapons...

"That's enough." Faen warned, trying to be the voice of reason "We're not here to trigger a second front for you, Human. We were here to get some answers to our questions... It is clear we no longer are within our own realm of space or time, simply going by your armaments and..." She took a moment, closing her eyes and trying to feel the Warp... She felt echoes... But as she attempted to tap into the local area of the Warp for the writing nightmares that it usually presented, the Farseer found naught but calmness. A Realm of Souls devoid of corruption... And her eyes went wide...

"... The Warp. It is calm." She voiced.

"What?!" Caen bellowed, looking to her "Farseer, you cannot be-"

"I am... The Warp here is a calm sea, not the tidal wave of corruption we left in our own realm. I... I don't know where we are. But it is definitely not our Galaxy. Not our Milky Way. Perhaps not our _Universe_!" She stated... What had the Warp done to them? What had happened to the Webway. "And... How did we get sent here? There are no Webway gates, not as far as I can feel."

"SARGE! WE'VE GOT INCOMING COVIES!" A Marine warned, breaking the Eldar's trail of thought...

The Farseer and her retinue turned about, to notice five more squadrons of the squat aliens and the hunchbacks, followed by a hovering armored vehicle... A boulder of plasma screamed through the air. And half of the Marine platoon vanished into the blue blaze upon the weapon striking ground. Those who could've taken cover did as superheated fragments of concrete flew through the air.

Plasma rained down upon the positions of the Marines and Eldar. Rounds heated Wraithbone as they struck, but the Eldar found their cover. The Farseer, Sergeant and Banshees took cover together, behind a collapsed apartment block and the Marine racked the bolt of his rifle. He stood up and emptied his magazine, screaming bloody murder at them, before the Farseer grabbed him by the collar and slammed him into the wall. She barked at him "CALM YOURSELF, HUMAN! Do you desire death!?"

"The fuckers just killed TEN of my men!" He bellowed, trying to free himself from the Eldar's grip. She looked him in the eyes...

"And you'll join them if you don't calm down!" She stated. "Taevel! Do you have Melta Grenades!?"

"Only three on my personage, Farseer! The rest have naught but one each!" The Aspect Warrior answered, firing from his Shuriken rifle, alongside a Marine's own Sniper. Another boulder of Plasma struck a building just in front of the Farseer and her squads, shattering glass and boiling away concrete and steel. Hot shards rained down upon them, but the Farseer's shield kept them away from her face...

"My Psychic powers still work, as far as I can tell! Cover me!" She bellowed.

Taevel nodded, then called out "AVENGERS! KHAINE WILL GUIDE OUR SHOTS! BLAST THESE MON'KEIGH APART! FIRE!"

A dozen Avengers stood up, their Shuriken Rifles and other varying Shuriken-based weapons screaming in unison as they unleashed a wave of projectiles into the alien lines. Shields shimmered and vanished under the whittling attack. Three of the alien Elites collapsed, filled full of eviscerating fury, whilst their tiny compatriots/slaves died much more easily.

"Psychic powers?!" The Marine Sergeant called "Lady, you must be some kinda insane!"

"Quiet." She hushed him, closing her eyes... "... Let the mists of Space and Time clear from my mind..."

The Marine watched as energy weaved into the gauntlets of her armor, into the scarlet gems... He muttered "No fucking way..." with eyes wide... He stood up and called out "GIVE OUR RESIDENT PSYCHIC SOME COVER, BOYS! FIRE AT WILL!" before raking the Covie lines with rifle fire, with the return being Plasma and Needler Shards flying past his head...

Another oversized plasma round landed, this one too close for comfort.

"FARSEER!" The Sergeant called out, reloading his rifle. "ANY TIME!"

"Do not rush me..." She hummed as she felt the pure, unbridled power of the Realm of Souls course through her veins. It felt much, much stronger than the energy that she would usually tap into from the Warp

Another round from the enemy hovertank's artillery piece blasted the ground next to them, raining melted concrete and shards of still-hot glass. A Marine's soul entered the Realm as the Farseer heard one of them die, having taken a Plasma round to the chest. An Avenger followed him, collapsing as a whittling barrage of Plasma focused solely on him, to the point his Wraithbone armor melted and began to meld with him...

And another... This one mere inches away. She felt the heat of the Plasma prickle at her skin... Her ears twitched and she muttered "Isha, guide my hand..." before her eyes, now alight with Psychic energy, opened. Standing to her feet, she cried to the Covenant "_FEEL THE WRATH OF THE ELDAR_!" before her hand shot forward... And several bolts of lightning left her fingertips, cutting right through the armored alloy of the Hover Tank. One bolt punched clean through, reaching into what stood for the engine, tearing it apart at a molecular level...

The vehicle exploded into shards of alloy that rained into the Covenant's back, bursting shields, disabling or outright killing the enemy units. The Farseer felt her power expend, falling to one knee and holding onto her singing spear... She called out "Caen! GO!" and heard it... Blades drawn from scabbards hissed as they powered and the psychic enhancers on the front of their helmets' masks let loose a deafening, blood-curdling scream as they charged forward. Marines covered their ears as they heard the screams and the Sergeant, though now nursing a migraine, watched as the Howling Banshees charged at the stunned and very disoriented Covenant forces...

What ensued next was a slaughter, as the powered blades of the Eldar's Aspect Warriors danced, rending the flesh of the Covenant's Elites before they could recover from the daze. The Grunts, small creatures, died with the blades stuck down their throats or cut in half by the brutally efficient Eldar warriors... And what remained afterward was a line of corpses on the broken road...

The Farseer panted, slowly staggering to her feet and leaning against the wall, before muttering "That took more out of me than I expected..."

"Hey." The Marine Sergeant stepped up in front of her, grinning "You alright there? Quite the lightshow you put up. Hell, I'm pretty sure that was some kinda magic you shot out there..."

He seemed in disbelief, just from the eyes... That or shock.

"I am well..." She panted "Just in need of rest."

"Well, you just saved our collective Bacon..." The Sergeant nodded "Thanks..."

The Farseer nodded, then started hearing a few more, faint thoughts of innocent souls. She looked back and the voices became clearer... The voices of mothers, fathers and their children... She pursed her lips, then said "You never mentioned there were families you were protecting." leaning herself against the wall further. Mike nodded, then slung his rifle onto his back.

"Ya never asked." He smirked. "I'll round up what's left of my team..."

Faen nodded... She watched her Banshee Exarch return, different-colored blood staining her blades. She nodded to the Farseer, before stepping in-line with the Avengers and her team. There was a lot to answer, but for now, she'd have to rest before any further movement was done. She sighed, then looked up above. Past the blue sky and atmosphere, she could faintly make out their Pulse Lances and weapons slamming against the enemy fleet's own shields... And those few ships that the Humans had left. The tide turning must've been an amazing sight for the Humans aboard the Human ships...

... And a nightmare for the Covenant. An endearing thought for Farseer Faen, nonetheless...


	2. Close Quarters Battle

**_Outer Orbit above Miridem_**

Lasers from the Covenant's CSS Cruisers slashed across the portside of the UNSC Halcyon-class Cruiser _Eagle_, leaving a deep gash in the side armor. The Warship's prompt response was a wave of Archer missiles striking shields and two of its escorts firing MACs. Captain Richardson, a former cadet, fresh out of Officer School, watched as Covenant fighters approached and, with panic in his voice, demanded "Point-Defense, what the hell are you doing!?"

"There's too many, sir!" A Gunnery Crew member reported. The Captain watched as the fighters streamed past the bridge of his Cruiser. The Covenant were coming in close and, despite 15 of their Warships breaking off to engage whatever just appeared in outmost orbit of Miridem, the UNSC still had nearly a hundred Covie ships to contend with. And the Admiral was not making things easy for them. The inky, dotted blackness of space was lit by the blades of energy that gutted another UNSC Frigate, the _Achilles. _Richardson knew her Captain well enough to have called him a friend...

Longsword Fighters took to space, engaging the advancing swarm of enemy fighters whilst attempting to also shoot down the enemy's transport craft. One such Longsword was flown by Ace Pilot and Flight Lieutenant Giraud. Her eyes were locked onto a Seraph and her focus was on keeping them on its tail while her Gunner worked his magic. The Machine Cannons in the wings of the Interceptor made the Longsword shudder as they fired. The shields of a Seraph flared and vanished, before three rounds punched into its upper cockpit... It blew apart minutes after.

Backa board the _Eagle, _the Captain watched with bated breath as the Covenant vessels approached the last 12 UNSC ships in orbit...

And then a wave of light washed over the leading Cruiser's shields, bursting them and gutting through the ventral plasma and laser batteries. The vehicle listed to the left, a deep gash and billowing fire remaining as testament to the impact of the weapons. The Captain swept his gaze over to the left, looking out into the darkness of space... And just as the first ship, an almost shark-like vessel with large fins, the Captain heard "Unknowns are entering combat with the Covenant, sir!" from one of his ensigns. The Alien vessel was painted in silver and white livery and felt more Covenant, but there it was...

Its Starboard pulse laser batteries heated to a bright white again. And the strobe-light pattern of energy weapons striking Covenant Shields once again repeated. Three Cruisers had been split in half by the first volley of the Alien Fleet, numbering around 200 ships of varying sizes. The second volley burned through the enemy's shielding and struck weapons, engines or, in some cases, even the reactors of the Covie vessels.

"Holy shit..." One of the two gunners at the front muttered.

"We're being hailed! Unknown Fleet's flagship!" The Com officer reported.

"On-Screen!" Was the captain's response... Soon, on the central screen of the UNSC Warship appeared the image of a tall, strong man with teal eyes and platinum-blonde hair. At first glance, he seemed fairly feminine, but the warrior's tattoos on his face and his formal, militaristic attire gave him a certain air of nobility and danger. The Captain also confused him for a human at first... Until he saw the sharp, pointed ears. Almost the entire crew of the UNSC vessel froze with surprise.

"... Greetings, Humans." The 'man' started respectfully, after hesitating a bit. "I am Fleet Admiral Benelim of the Defense fleet of _Ilroh'ynn. _You seem to require immediate assistance." and a beam of energy slashed past the hull of their ship, the response was prompt, a wave of light washing across a Covenant Carrier's hull and a beam piercing the center of the 'neck', cutting the vessel in half.

The Captain felt his mouth dry up as he saw one of the Covies' most dangerous ships be gutted by a smaller vessel. He quickly nodded, then said "Yes... Thank you, Fleet Admiral... I'm Captain Jack Richardson, UNSC Battlegroup _Paris... _Or what's left of it, anyways. Not to sound ungrateful, Admiral, but... Where the fuck did you and your fleet even come from?"

"The Gates of Hell, Captain." Benelim said nonchalantly. "I can explain to you what I mean later. For now, however, my main focus is the Mon'Keigh Navy that fired at my people."

"Covies pissed you off, then, Admiral?" Snorted the Captain "Good thing we didn't fire first."

"Indeed." Nodded the Admiral. "Stay back, nurse your wounds... We've got the enemy fleet."

The Captain wanted to protest, but he saw the rest of the Admiral's fleet enter battle, their weapons lighting up the darkness of space... And then their Battleships, monstrous in size, came into view. Their Laser and Projectile weapons sent deadly bursts into the Covenant's own vessels yet again as the Covenant returned fire. Plasma washed over the shields of one Eldar warship, whilst another returned fire.

The Covenant found themselves outmatched. The strange Fleet's vessels were far more mobile. The Covenant tried to adapt their shields to the pulsing energy of the massive Laser batteries, but couldn't. Not fast enough, even with all their tech. The Captain watched in awe and silently thanked God they decided not to engage those too... That and the Covies were stupid enough to engage first.

... It felt good to watch the fuckers that burned your planets get bit back...

* * *

**_Groundside. 1 Day since Eldar deployment._**

Among the rubble within Miridem's capital city, the Sergeant and his platoon of wounded attempted to make contact via Radio to whatever units they still had. The broken buildings above were a stark reminder to the Eldar with them that these humans, as much as they resembled the Imperium, were ones that were on the back foot and have been for a while. Faen had listened to Reaver talk about their war. 19 years of... _This? _Beside her were cowering civilians. A mother cradling her two-year-old son, a husband searching for his wife, two children separated from their parents... And many other people, unarmed, wounded, scared... She could feel their emotions strongly resonating around her. Her heart felt like it was sinking the more she stood beside them... It irked her... Caring for Mon'Keigh was not prerogative to the Eldar.

... She had also tapped into the War-... Realm of Souls, while he told his story. She had reached into his mind with hope of finding truth. She found no lie in what he spoke. Only the soul of a citizen soldier burdened by the many lives he had seen end. Even now, as she watched the human work the Radio of one of his wounded comrades, she felt uneasy. These humans were stuck in an endless loop of slaughter against these 'Covenant'... She sighed, straightening up and walking toward him, meeting Caentys and Taevel's gazes halfway through... Before arriving beside him.

"Ballroom, this is Lima-9, do you copy? Repeat, Ballroom, Lima-9 on line 3-5, do you copy?" He spoke hopefully. He let go of the transmit button, only for static to come through... "Fuck..." He swore behind his breath, sliding the long-range communication system's microphone back in and standing up. He turned to the Farseer and said "I can't raise command. Either they were wiped by a Covie advance force or the bastards are jamming our Comms."

"How many of you are there on this planet? Soldiers, I mean." She inquired, her Singing Spear still clasped in her right hand.

"Ten battalions, numbering in total around... 1,500 of us on last census during battle? Fuck if I know how many of the Battalions are still out there." He sighed, looking out toward one of the taller buildings. It bore a sign, of a pyramid with an O in the center. One side was colored black, 'shaded', while the other was pure white. A circle with words and letters in human lexicon.

"What's your unit's mission?" She shifted her own gaze toward the building, trying to sound apathetic.

He pursed his lips, then pointed at the building "Original orders were to get to the ONI Regional Headquarters and evacuate some very important personnel. There were around 40 of us on first drop into the city from Firebase Oxcart." and his gaze turned to the Civilians "When all hell broke loose and we found out there were still Civvies around on the ground, three quarters of my platoon, including superior officers, died before we even got two steps near the buildings where these poor people were."

The Farseer looked over to the people... She'd have probably done the same.

"Yeah, we had a fuckin' job, but..." He looked over to the woman with a sad smile "Hey... We're only human. We save our own when we can."

... Only Human, huh?

She locked eyes with a girl... Couldn't have been older than 17 years, grabbing onto a wounded boy whose arm was in a sling. Then she saw the tired soldiers defending her... And for some reason, her mind put the Eldar in the humans' stead. The dead when the Eldar Empire Collapsed. When Craftworlds were attacked and destroyed, one by one, by Chaos... And visions came... The screams and wails of pain, the heavy hum of Plasma weaponry and a thousand weeping souls... A Craftworld Broken... A vision of the future were they to take any path that meant abandoning the humans...

And a second thread... One showing calm... It was unbroken by the screams of weeping souls. It was just quiet... And then an image flashed, of a flourishing world... Incredible... And Impossible at the same time. The thread of fate followed a path of War that led to a peace. A peace for them, but blurry, unknown as to why... She sometimes hated their prophetic views, but she wished to save her people... So the path of war was the only path she would take in this new world.

She hummed, then looked to Taevel and said "Get us in contact with the Craftworld. Ask for reinforcements... And get our Fire Dragons on the ground. If we're to fight with armor again, I don't want to rely on my psychic powers alone to win us an engagement."

"I take it we are engaging in a campaign of liberation, Farseer?" Taevel asked, a grin on his face.

"We are supporting the Humans for now. Assisting in Evacuation. Set up a Webway Beacon in the street... Meanwhile..." She turned to the Sergeant, who seemed surprised "You said that the Covenant would be jamming your communications... What could they be using to do such a thing?"

"Erm..." The Sergeant shook his head, to clear a slight bit of new confusion, before saying "Possible jammers set up in high points like the ONI building. But without comms, I can't confirm shit. Command could be dead by now and I'd be talking to thin air..."

Faen nodded "Taevel. Get the Pathfinder and his Rangers down here as well... I do not want to be surprised by an enemy's sniper again. They shall allow us to scout out for further possible foes and perhaps for their jammers. We made the mistake of leaving them aboard once today. _Never again_."

"W-Wait, how the fuck aren't your comms Jammed?!" The Radioman of the platoon finally buckled and asked.

She looked to him, then said "We do not work on your Radio Waves, human." She responded with an air of superiority. "Our Psyche does the communication for us... Our armor allows it to be boosted. And hence..." She turned to the Dire Avengers' Exarch. The man gave a nod of approval and took out a small wraithbone construct. He clicked a button, then threw it outside...

"And once you find the Jammers?" The Sergeant asked. "They ain't exactly gonna be easy to blow up."

"We've got Melta Bombs." Caen smirked, twirling one of the strangely-shaped explosives between her fingers. A bone-chilling hum made the Humans, Civilian and Marine alike, freeze. And soon, scarlet-clad aspect warriors advanced into the room, wearing the Wraithbone armor filled with runes and weapons that emanated immediate heat at the barrels. Following behind the Fire Dragons was a squadron of robe-clad soldiers with longer-ranged rifles in hand.

"Exarch Lauban. Pathfinder Farros." The Farseer nodded. "Good to have you here."

Both of them gave silent nods to their Elder...

"Damn..." Mike intoned, shocked...

"Uh, Sarge?" A hand tugged at his shoulder. One of his squadmates. The two huddled together and the man continued in whisper, glancing back at the Eldar units with a bit of worry "I'm really not likin'em bringin' more of their own on the ground. Call it a hunch. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we're gettin' help, but for now it feels like we're tradin' covies for someone who only seems nicer."

The man knew exactly what his comrade meant... "I know what you're saying, Hitchcock, but I'd rather not put civilians at risk by pissing them off yet. They did help us deal with that Sniper..." And he turned around, noticing the Farseer staring at him with a gaze that simply asked 'Really?'. She turned toward her Exarchs and the Pathfinder and said "Pathfinder, get you and your men to scout out ahead... We suspect the enemy is using some sort of jammers to block the Humans' communications. And do warn us if you find anymore human forces, or civilians. Leave one of your Rangers with us, in case we require Sniper support."

"It will be done." The younger male nodded... And just as the Sergeant blinked, the entire squad, but one, a dainty female, vanished... This was starting to get scary. The Farseer then looked to the Fire Dragons and spoke calmly "Exarch, you and your squadron will lead from the front. Your armor is the strongest and you have our anti-tank capable weapons... If we meet any enemy hovertank or vehicle, you will be the spear which pierces their armor."

"As Khaine wills it, Farseer." The man nodded. "What of the Humans?"

"We keep them safe until they can be acquired by their people." She ordered. "We move only when they move."

"So shall it be." He answered, powering his weapon.

"I'm surprised." Caen said. "I never thought you'd be this keen to help Mon-..." She cut herself off "Humans. We usually work alone, Farseer."

"Call it my intuition, Caen." She nodded. Caen snorted, then nodded. Of course, the Farseer would have some sort of vision leading to the simple fact they needed to keep the humans safe. The Farseer turned to the surprised Sergeant as the Dragons and the Avengers joined his men in forming a defensible perimeter, with their Sniper immediately posting up two floors higher, in the cover of a dark corner.

"Do tell when we're proceeding, Sergeant." The woman noted calmly, readying her Singing Spear. The Sergeant nodded weakly, watching them. Faen watched as he went to help pick up the Civilians and wounded squad-mates. The platoons of Eldar and Humans proceeded to form into a single unit, with the more heavily-armored Eldar units at the forefront and the Farseer in the middle. They maintained formation, though scattered among the ruins to avoid any threat.

They moved quickly and silently between the broken buildings and charred corpses, through alleyways and crossing rubble-filled roads. Until the Farseer stopped the entire unit, now scattered evenly between three alleyways and two destroyed shop-fronts. She and her Huntress leaned against a wall and listened in... Automatic Gunfire and the hum and hiss of assorted energy weapons came from ahead.

"Madam. My fellow Rangers report an enemy holdout in that building ahead." The Female Ranger noted, taking a knee and scoping in the targets with her rifle. The Farseer looked at the building itself. A tall tower of glass, steel and concrete standing tall above the buildings in this area of the town. The logo at the top read 'TRAXUS' and the Farseer watched as a faint pulse came from the top.

"Something's wreaking havoc with my optics, Sarge." A Marine, one of the less wounded ones, reported, a small, scoped rifle at the ready.

"That's a jammer upstairs, then." The Sergeant said. "And going by the Gunfire, some of our boys are engaged and trying to take it out."

"So... We take it out and give you and this other unit a chance to talk to your superiors." The woman said, then looked back and ordered "Taevel, leave three Avengers with the unarmed and wounded. We will take the fight to the Aliens. Assist the Humans." And she got a nod from the man. The team then moved forward, to the sight of three squads of Marines stuck behind barricades. Several wounded, but more on their feet.

One of them turned and saw the Eldar, trying to turn around and fire... But he then saw Mike running beside her, MA5 Rifle in hand. The younger Marine behind the barricade smiled, then cried out "WATCH YOUR FIRE, FRIENDLIES COMING IN FROM THE REAR!" just as Mike's platoon and the Eldar joined them, with the Farseer raising a shield in front of her that stopped and dissipated six Plasma rounds aimed right for her.

The Farseer's soldiers fired. Shurikens struck the walls and support pylons of the TRAXUS building, chipping away stone and armor and forcing the enemy back into cover. There was a turret with three guns set up higher on the stairs leading to the Building's entrance and the Farseer felt a thousand voices in her head as she tried to listen in on the Covenant's minds... Two very big, very nasty creatures seemed to also be present inside.

The Farseer didn't wait any longer, ordering forth the Dragons... Their weapons howled a terrific howl and the Plasma turret on higher ground vanished in a wave of white heat. The Long Rifle of the female scout snapped. An Elite lost its head, collapsing dead to the floor. And Mike's rifle echoed as well. He went to the front of the platoons, to find an elder man holding a Magnum pistol and wearing, instead of the standard UNSC helmet, an officer's cap.

"Major, sir!" The Sergeant saluted.

The Major gave a quick salute back and said "Sergeant Reaver! Nice of you to join us and..." He looked back "Bring Reinforcements, I assume?"

"Sir!" He nodded "These are the Eldar, as they call themselves... Apparently the Covies gave them a glancing shot up in space and pissed them off." and he watched as the Fire Dragons' weapons let loose another wave. The two men watched as the incredibly powerful weapons melted away a support pillar and the Covenant behind it. The Farseer advanced beside the men, letting Plasma rounds strike the strange shield she formed, before she let the shield go and sent forth a single bolt of lightning that killed about a dozen grunts...

"Well, holy _shit, _am I glad the Covies shot first." The Major hummed, his cigar falling from his mouth. He turned to the Farseer, then said "I'm Major Wilhelm. Commander of this here little Battalion."

The Farseer nodded. "Have you had a chance to contact your High Command, human?" She then asked, looking up at the building's floors. The man shook his head, then answered.

"Their jammer's right over there. One of them. There's two more in the Misriah and Sinoviet buildings just across the road, but I think they have tanks there."

"Very well... Hold position. Exarchs! With me! We clear the building!" the woman said, activating the blade of her Singing Spear. It shone a deep blue, as did her eyes... The two Exarchs joined her side whilst the Marines and Eldar exchanged fire with the Covenant. She looked to Taevel and questioned him "Still have those three Melta Bombs?" calmly. A nod was the answer...

"Wait, are you insane!? There's at least three squads of Elites in there, one of which may well be Zealots!" The Major balked.

"Then they'll die with their zeal." The Farseer said. She watched as three Avengers and three Howling Banshees joined them. "Forward!" She ordered... And the squadron moved forward. The Avengers' Shurikens kept the Covenant in cover, while the Howling Banshees' scream disoriented them. Just as they passed the first column, their blades gutted a pair of Elites and decapitated a dozen grunts in one fell swoop. The attack squad entered the building and took to cover. The Avengers' Rifles swept the lower floor, rounds leaving corpses in their wake. The Banshees moved to flank a squad of Elites armed with more rifle-like items. One of said Banshees decapitated an elite in heavy red armor...

Elites with Jetpacks fell down on top of the Banshees, two of them pinning one to the floor. They aimed their plasma weapons at her, but soon found themselves split in half as the Banshees danced their dance of death. An Elite, a Zealot, probably, ignited and brandished his Energy Sword and entered a duel with the Banshees' Exarch. Their blades clashed again and again... Caen grinned.

"I have this one, Farseer! Take the Melta Bombs and destroy that damn Jammer!" She bellowed, before spinning about and slashing toward the Elite's torso. It was quick to back off and dodge the strike, but the duel continued. The Farseer nodded to her friend and moved on with the rest of the platoon, engaging more Covenant along the way... An Elite appeared behind the Farseer and, before she could raise her Singing Spear to parry an incoming sword strike from it, saw its brains splattered across the wall by a High-Caliber round.

The gunshot reverberated across the room. She turned to see the Marines striding in, with Reaver in the lead, his Assault Rifle chattering as they went. He ran up to her side and said "What, you think we're gonna let you have all the fun?" with a grin on his face. The Farseer hid a smirk, then urged her men onward. The Sergeant waved his forward too.

The Assault Weapon in the man's hand continued letting loose a stream of bullets, while his comrades' barked in unison. The Eldar weapons also joined. Their advance didn't stall once. The Sergeant looked to Faen as they were running, briefly ceasing fire, then said "You sure you wanna take the full stairwell up? Gonna be damn tired by the time we reach the floor where the jammer is."

"We'll be fine." The Farseer returned, slashing in half a Grunt as it tried to attack them.

"I'll trust ya, but I'm also gonna blame you if my men start whining about stairs." He quipped... The woman nodded. As they approached the stairwell, the Sergeant kicked the door in, raising his rifle to greet anything. All clear... The mixed group of humans and Eldar started ascending the stairwell at a quickened pace. They didn't even bother to check other doors... A Marine or another reported interference from his visor getting more and more annoying, meaning they weren't far... And finally, upon reaching the tallest part of the building, the Sergeant once again kicked the door in...

And the Farseer froze. She felt herself get pushed out of the way as a beam of emerald fire struck the wall, burning a deep hole in the concrete and taking the heads clean off two Marines and a Banshee. The others managed to duck into cover just before... Two lumbering monstrosities made of an armor alloy that the Farseer didn't recognize stood before them. They had spikes of the same alloy on the backs of their armor... Said spikes twitched. Added to the armor was a right arm with a powerful weapon. A weapon that did just boil three of their soldiers alive. And the other arm was a thick, reinforced shield... And inside the armor of the bipedal mostrosities were orange eels, squirming and keeping the armor together.

Two of these things greeted them...

"Mother of Fuck! HUNTERS!" A Marine cried out "And I left the Launcher at home!"

An Avenger stood up, raising his Shuriken rifle and opened fire, aiming for the exposed 'head' and midsection. The rounds scratched and embedded themselves into the thick plating shield. The Marine Sergeant, who had so far been keeping the Farseer covered, stood up and started pouring fire into the things as well... They slowly stepped back as the weapons fire began to hit too close to vitals for the aliens' comfort.

The Farseer watched the Marine Sergeant with surprise... She shook off the confusion, stood up and sent forth a blast of psychic energy into one of the creatures. A kinetic attack that made it stagger. She called to her soldiers "Out! Out onto the Floor and engage whatever you see!" before pushing out of the stairwell herself and firing another psycho-kinetic blast at the creature. She saw its brother spin about, raising its shield and powering its arm-mounted gun...

She swiveled about, pirouetting around the wave of green fire and stabbing toward the creature. Its shield melted as the blade made contact and embedded into it, but the Alien was quick to retaliate, using the shield to punch the Farseer away and sending her flying into a wall.. She grunted, used her psychic powers again and grabbed her Spear, pulling herself and it toward each-other. The spear unlodged itself and gave the woman the air time she needed to bring the weapon into a slashing motion that moved away the Cannon before it fired again.

Two plasma auto-guns soon targeted the advancing squadron of Eldar and Marines, behind them being the tall, strange alien structure that was the Jammer. The Grunts manning the weapons opened fire, forcing the Marines to take cover and the Banshees and Avengers to join them. The Sergeant was closest to the weapon... He watched as one of his own got hit by a bolt of Plasma and one of the Avengers dragging him into cover...

He checked his gear. He had two Grenades, three clips of ammo, plus one half-full one loaded into his rifle, a pistol with full magazines and his helmet, which's visor pulsed with interference at the same time as the Jammer... He grinned, then yelled to the Avengers' Exarch "Hand me your bombs!"

"What?!" Taevel demanded.

"Hand me those Melty Bombs or whatever they are! Tell me how to prime'em and I can get them close enough to the Jammer!" The Marine gave his Eldar counterpart a crazy grin...

"Are you insane, Human!? You'll die before you even reach the Jammer!" He answered, before gazing back to the Farseer. The Sergeant nodded and answered with a proud look on his face "Yeah, maybe! But I can free you and your girls and boys up to go help the Farseer!" and he saw the Eldar shift a bit... Gritting his teeth, Taevel took one of the Melta Bombs off his belt. A strange, round and large grenade. It had a knob at the top and a red button in the middle...

"Twist the top and press the button in the middle! The knob is for the timer!" Taevel said, tossing him the bomb. The Marine nodded.

"Gotcha! Now go! She's gonna need some mighty fine backup to get rid of those Hunters!" He told them, before hearing the groan of one of the Hunters... He turned to see the shield arm of one had been severed and the other was still trying to aim his weapon at the Farseer... He yelled to her "GO FOR THE BACK! GO FOR THE FUCKING BACK!" and he turned to Taevel... The two exchanged a silent nod to one another, before the Marine Sergeant cried out "COVERING FIRE!" and charged forth... He twisted the knob at the top for a 10 second detonation and pressed the button... The timer started to sound...

Gunfire raked the shields of the Plasma turrets, sparking off them and making the Grunts cower as they fired, missing their shots. Plasma passed by Reaver's head... And Faen looked over to the madman as her reinforcements approached, her eyes wide open... May she be damned. The Marine Sergeant pulled the two fragmentation grenades off his belt and tossed them into the air, trying to land one each behind the grunts. He climbed the stairs in bounds, only five seconds left on the Melta Bomb's timer, let the grenades detonate and emptied his magazine into the Grunts just as they fell, before slapping the bomb onto an open section of the Jammer.

Three... Two... _One..._

He had jumped off the pedestal onto a series of shrubs just in time... The Melta Bomb let out a thrum, before its inner subatomic reaction triggered and the fuel ignited into a bright, dangerously-hot wave of energy and roared. Glass shattered thanks to the shockwave and the corpses of the grunts, along with the turrets, were incinerated... And as the last Hunter collapsed, dead, to the floor, the Farseer ran alongside the Marines to see to the Sergeant... They found him, part of his armor charred by the detonation... But he was alive.

Coughing from between the decorative shrubs, the man slowly stood into a seated position... Slowly, his ragged breathing turned into a giggle, then into full-blown laughter. He looked to the Farseer, taking his helmet off his head, then spoke through the laughter "We need one of those in every Marine's arsenal! That was fucking awesome!" before trying to stand up to his feet and staggering... His Marines laughed with him.

The Farseer felt whatever knot she had in her throat vanish, her heart slowing back down... She cared for a human...? No... She needed to squelch that kind of thought. So, she looked to the man, then, instead of fear, she felt both worry and a hint of anger... She berated him "Are you insane, Sergeant!? That could well have ended poorly for all of us! How can you humans be so unrelentingly careless with your own lives?!"

The Sergeant maintained his grin as he was helped up, then said "Well, Farseer... Here's the thing... We're Marines. Danger's our fuckin' middle name."

She looked to him... And sighed deeply, before shaking her head and muttering "Mon'Keigh are insane..."

"Hey!" The Marine realized, smirking "Ya called me Sergeant instead of human!" And he saw the Farseer give him a glance that simply said 'Shut up'. And Reaver was happy to oblige, letting his men carry him to somewhere to seat... He looked at the crater left by the Melta bomb. It had evaporated the pedestal, the grunts' corpses and the jammer itself...

Yeah... They needed one of those in every Marine pack. Anti-Armor would be a breeze with something like that...


	3. Ballroom Blitz

Despite one Jammer being knocked out, the Marines and Eldar still found themselves in need to enter combat not too far from the other two Jammers. Faen's armored boots crunched against the debris below her feet as the boulevard became awash with Plasma Fire. A pair of Covenant tanks let loose waves from their mortars just as the Farseer found cover behind an overturned civilian-use truck. She gasped as she saw an Avenger collapse, taking the shot of a Jackal Sniper right to his right eye socket. The corpse tumbled over and fell, dead, his helmet cracked...

That forced the others to take cover, but not before one of the Banshees was hit by a burst of plasma from a turret mounted up higher. Her armor took the brunt of the damage and she was okay, thankfully, but the armor was charred. A Marine suffered a similar fate, where a single Needle shot hit his shoulder, punching through armor and sending him, wounded, to the floor. Two of his comrades, among which the Sergeant himself, dragged the man into cover beside a median barrier of concrete.

Reaver peeked out and fired a burst toward the enemy as the Farseer looked for the best route to go through, from broken car to broken car. She watched the UNSC Platoon and their Eldar reinforcements continue to exchange fire, before looking to her Exarchs and waving them forth. A Long Rifle's projectile struck one of the enemy's Snipers and the Farseer moreso _felt _than _saw _the Pathfinder and his men, split between multiple buildings.

The Marines were joined by the rest of the contingent, major included... One of the tanks scored a lucky, hit, however. The plasma round from its mortar struck in the midst of a grouping of Marines, Dragons and Avengers. The superheated gas detonated as it hit the car behind which they took cover, exploding the vehicle and taking several of the good guys gang with it.

"Fuck..." Reaver swore, racking the bolt of his AR.

"That's at least a dozen of ours down." The Major muttered, looking over the Jersey Barrier to see the Covenant defenses. "We're gonna need Air Support to take those vics out."

"That or a really lucky lightning bolt from the Farseer." Reaver returned. He looked around the field, to see that the bottom part of the structure was relatively undefended, save for the pair of enemy tanks. He grinned "Speaking of..." He stood up and let loose a barrage of bullets, killing two grunts with the continuous stream of lead, before turning to the Farseer and calling out "FARSEER! I GOT AN IDEA!"

"Oh?!" Faen asked, before using her telekinesis to push herself and others out of the way of another boulder of Plasma which left her original cover smouldering. She ran to the Sergeant's side, sending a bolt of lightning arching into the center of the enemy position and killing six Grunts and an Elite Minor. She took a knee beside him and asked "What would that idea be!?"

He pointed to the two tanks and the Farseer hummed, then added "Yes, you're suicidal, I know! Anything else!?" sarcastically.

The Sergeant snorted "Not what I meant! If your troops can keep the tanks busy, two teams could go behind them and sabotage the other Jammers!" before ducking as a Jackal Sniper's rifle shot just past his head. He swore to himself, whilst watching the Farseer look at possible routes. She looked to him, her lips parting slightly... And he smirked "See? I'm not just insane! I'm _creative_!"

The Farseer had to take a moment to register his somewhat dark, self-deprecating humor, before nodding... She looked ahead and waved the Avengers and Dragons in. As the duet of Squads moved to join their Farseer, one of the Jackal Snipers once again caught one in the open. The hole drilled into the Dire Avenger's heart sent the man collapsing to the floor. A second shot nicked another, wounding him.

"Well, they're getting better at aiming!" Taevel said, taking Faen's left flank and dumping a wave of Shurikens.

"Yes, worryingly so! Taevel, I need you, your Avengers and the Dragons to keep the enemy's tanks busy!" Faen ordered.

"I'll slide Melta Bombs right underneath'em if I have to." The Exarch gave a nod. "Are you planning on something, Farseer?"

"It's more the Human's plan. We take two separate Strike Teams and destroy the Jammers in each building." She returned, looking over the cover and watching as the Artillery continued to fall on their Marine allies, taking one or two as the soldiers, probable veterans and used to facing stuff like this, scattered and divided themselves evenly between the destroyed vehicles that served as cover on an otherwise-open Freeway.

"Well... That sounds like a Human idea." Taevel said. "That reminds me, Farseer... Communique from the Craftworld. After we're done on the ground, the High Council has requested to speak to you." making Faen pause. Oh, great, what did they want now...? Probably something relating to their intervention. Faen knew how 'conservative' quote-unquote, the High Council was...

She ducked under a wave of Plasma, then said "Right..." turning her gaze to the Sergeant "Which one will you take!?"

"Oh, ya think I'm lettin' ya go alone?" He chuckled "Like hell!" and turned to his men, calling out "Hawkins, Hitchcock, Victor! Take a payload of C14 and any Space Elves that wanna join ya and hit the Sinoviet building! I, Jones, Gavrilo and Weiss will take the ONI building with the Farseer!" and racking the bolt of his rifle. He looked to her, smirking, then said "That is if she's willing to join us."

She sighed, readying her spear, then nodded. Maybe the council was asking to speak with her about needlessly risking her life on the ground like this? She was, after all, one of their eldest and most powerful Farseers. Which was an achievement in and of itself, considering how few of her kin focused on the path of the Seer. With a raised fist, the distraction that the group asked for had begun.

She watched as the enemy's tanks focused on the scattering mass of Aspect Warriors, each firing their weapon at them. Plasma balls of doom were the retaliation... And the Farseer readied herself, waving forth two of her Banshees for protection. The Sergeant looked to her, grin withstanding, then winked. Squinting, surprised by the little interaction, the Farseer watched as the man and his squad pounced over Cover and opened fire...

His men followed, Designated Marksman Rifles and Assault Rifles creating a crescendo of projectile-based fire... The Farseer jumped over her own cover and moved with them, followed by the two Banshees, blades drawn as they rushed past the broken civilian and military vehicles on the road. Plasma turrets greeted them, two of the Sergeant's men falling to the floor with smoking stumps instead of heads.

The Farseer raised a psychic barrier between them and the enemy's guns. She watched the tanks and her soldiers working against them, before looking back to see that Caen was dueling another pair of elites that tried to outflank them. The Banshee Exarch gave a nod to the Farseer, before severing the head of another Elite. The Farseer left her worries for later, even as she saw more of the Covenant stream in, before watching as the Marines split.

The Sergeant looked at Hawkins moving in. The young, pale, blue-eyed boy had an unbreakable spirit. Following him, Hitchcock let loose his skills with a Designated Marksman Rifle, killing three grunts in three shots and hammering an Elite's shields enough for Victor to dump rounds into the bastard from his Assault Rifle. The Minor collapsed...

And the Sergeant swore "FUCK!" as an Energy Sword swung just where his head would've been, had he not ducked and started firing into the Elite... A monster clad in scarlet armor, with blue linings. It looked ceremonial. He went bug-eyed as the Zealot slashed again, gutting a Banshee. As the shields started to flare on the creature, the man had to reload his rifle. He watched its sword come down toward Faen... She raised an open palm, stopping the strike via psycho-kinesis. And the remaining Banshee vivisected the bastard at the waist. The two pieces of the half-Alien dropped to the floor...

Panting, the Sergeant stood to his feet as corporal Weiss came to check on him, the hilt of the Energy Sword in his hand. She patted him down, then said "You nearly lost your head there, boss." grinning

"Thank God for the 'Seer and her Banshees, eh?" He nodded to the Farseer. She nodded back, then looked down at the fallen Banshee. She knelt to her side, before removing the mask and helmet of the warrior girl, one looking around 18, maybe 19 years old in Human terms... Her teal eyes stared at the empty sky, mouth agape, blood foaming. The Farseer felt no life in her... Saying a word from the Eldar lexicon, the woman closed the young one's eye, before standing up.

"Sorry." Reaver sighed.

"This is war." She hummed... "Let's go."

As they entered the building, the Marines were the first in. Greeted by a hail of needler shards, small, pink crystals that detonate upon embedding themselves into a target and leaving micro-shrapnel in said target's body, the group took cover behind a display case. The glass above shattered as the Grunts holding the automatic pistols with semi-tracking projectiles fired.

Corporal Weiss's response was to grab a grenade off her belt and hurl it over their cover. Its detonation didn't take any of the grunts with it, but it did give enough of a distraction for the Marines and Farseer to peek out, the former letting their rifles let loose a staccato symphony of gunfire, while the latter sent small, less draining bolts of psychic energy toward her target. An arching strike killed 6 Grunts, whilst the others were being rallied by their Elite commander.

The Farseer caught a Plasma Bolt from the Mon'Keigh bastard right in the shoulder, sending her back into cover with a smoldering wound. She growled, then looked to find the Sergeant and... See he was not there. The Corporal looked to her and pointed ahead... She looked over their cover, to watch the man advancing, rifle in hand, dumping rounds into the Elite. It was a minor, so its shields vanished pretty fast...

But Reaver's gun clicked empty...

The Marine Sergeant swore, slid the gun onto his back and drew his side-arm just as the Elite Minor tried to tackle him, dumping two high-caliber pistol rounds into its head. The response from the grunts was a needle round to the shoulder that sent him to the floor, alive, but hurt... The wound started to bleed, but he managed to raise his Handgun from the floor and fire twice.

"Sarge!" The Corporal cried out, moving toward him. Faen rolled her eyes... Humans...

Standing up, she sent another bolt of lightning that near-boiled a Grunt alive, before charging them and slashing the remaining ones to pieces with her weapon of choice, raising a barrier to protect herself as more rounds streamed in. The surviving Banshee charged in, letting loose her ear-piercing shriek and sending grunts running as she started to cut them down.

The Farseer slashed another Grunt, before looking to the Sergeant... The man was on his feet, rifle reloaded and wound patched up by himself. Approaching her, he spoke calmly "Well, that was close."

"You took an enemy round in the shoulder." The Banshee stated with a deadpan. "Are all humans as insane as you?"

"Only the good ones." The two Marines answered in unison, bumping fists. Reaver then said "C'mon, then, girls. We've got a jammer to take down and I can't let Hitch get theirs before we get ours."

The Marines then stepped off toward the elevators, with the Eldar watching them leave... The Banshee hummed "Farseer, remind me again... Why are we helping them? We could just not have intervened."

Faen sighed "Visions, Aspect Warrior... Visions of peace..." And she shook her head, before calmly ordering "Come along" as she went to follow them. As they entered the elevator, Reaver hit the button for the top floor, before checking his gear. Ammunition was in the yellow, but would probably be enough to take down the next Jammer. He looked out of the rear window of the elevator, at the burning city. Flyers engaged Covenant Drop Ships... A Longsword even managed to knock one of the fuckers out of the sky.

"Hell to the fuck yeah." The Sergeant said, slapping Corporal Weiss's arm and pointing to the crashing Covie Dropship. "Flyboys got them."

"Think their radios work?" She inquired.

"Hopefully. Otherwise, I don't really see them coordinating... Unless some poor fuck is hanging off the side with signal flags." The Sergeant chuckled. He noticed the Farseer eyeing him with a bit of fright, then inquired "What's wrong there... Faenbryn was it?" before a smirk appeared on his face "Mind if I call ya Faen? Way shorter than Farseer or your full name."

The woman narrowed her eyes at him. He snorted "Yeah, Faen it is."

"Do you just _live _to be an annoyance, Human?" The Sword-Girl beside Faen spoke with a tone of exhasperation.

"I live to kill Covies, sweet-cheeks." He answered in clear jest. Faen put a hand on the glowering blademaster's hand. The Sergeant got an ear-to-ear grin from the reaction, which he completed with an "I'm just kidding. No need to get defensive about it." and clicking the safety off his rifle as the elevator dinged. He quipped "You have reached your floor! Please, exit in a calm and orderly fashion from the elevator."

Just as he was about to let the ladies exit first, he cocked his head to the left and yanked the Farseer, who prepared herself to exit, to his side and out of the way. She wanted to protest just as a more focused needle round punched through the glass window, drilling a hole through it, exactly where her head could've been. The Marine looked to Weiss, then waved her forward and said "We got a Skirmisher. Needle Rifle... Didn't get a good bead on it."

The DMR-toting Marine took a knee, scoping in the floor:An atrium with a multitude of catwalks and gangways, as well as a dozen or so trees. She watched the lilac flash of the gun's muzzle go off and saw a round strike the floor between them and the Banshee... And locking onto the dark spot from where the shot flashed, her reticle turned red. She squeezed. The gun barked. And a wet thump echoed across to them.

"Marksman down." She nodded.

"Crack shot as always, Snow-White." Sarge smirked, patting her on the shoulder. His visor once again went slightly fuzzy after one pulse. He nodded to the Farseer, then stepped out first, raising his MA5 and sweeping the area ahead. He clenched his fist and elbowed down once. The Corporal joined him, eyes locked onto the once-occupied nest of the Skirmisher sniper. She tapped his shoulder just as a pulse of energy disrupted their HUDs.

Looking back to the Farseer, who seemed surprised, he nodded "It's close. C'mon."

She stepped out, looking at the man. He smirked, then stepped forward, sweeping the area in his own arc, while Weiss maintained her own arc of fire, which also encompassed the catwalks above. The two Eldar maintained their position, spear and sword at the ready in case of any up-close enemies. They continued to tread slowly past the corners, eyes open...

The Farseer felt a chill. She looked to the left and called out "Marksman. Ambusher on your left!"

And just as the Riflewoman crossed into the hallway, into her line of sight came two grunts and the ugly, grey-skinned, spiky-haired emo cousin of the Jackal. The Skirmisher. It had its Plasma pistol overcharged and pointing at them... Corporal Weiss quickly reacted. One bullet to the gun arm, two to the stomach, one to the head... Tarry, blueberry-colored blood spattered and the monster fell, its pistol going off and narrowly missing the Sergeant's head.

He swiveled about, dumping his AR's clip into the two grunts after getting a good sight picture. Lead filled the grunts' bodies, sending them toppling to the floor in a large pool of shining-blue blood. The Farseer felt another tingle, stepping forward and thrusting her spear into a Jackal with an energy shield it was just activating. The blade split the creature's head in two.

"Fucking hell! Up high! Two Elite majors with Repeaters!" Weiss called out, noticing a pair of Elites in orange, more decorated armors appearing. She raised her rifle and fired up into the Catwalks. The bullets either bounced off or vanished upon impact with the shields. The Elites' response:Dropping plasma grenades onto them. Two of the small, blue, high-explosive and highly-volatile sticky bombs fell between the squad.

Faen jumped back, as did the Banshee. The Marines jumped and rolled away, onto their knees, both raising their weapons and dumping rounds toward the two Elites. Bullets sparked off the walls and the steel girders holding the metal bridges up. The Elites' response was a concerted wave of Plasma, from what looked like rifle-length weapons. Faen looked about, for any enemy weapons... Before noticing one of the Grunts' Plasma pistols. She slid toward it, grabbing it from the floor, implanting her singing spear into the floor and raising the pistol. She squeezed the trigger once, twice, three times.

The bolts of plasma struck the support girders, heating them up. She continued firing, until the pistol's top blew and heat washed her hand. She tossed it aside, grabbing her spear and freezing as a bolt of Plasma struck the arm with which she held her weapon was hit right in the joint. She stumbled, dropping the weapon to the floor... And the Marine Sergeant stepped up, dashing toward her. He grabbed her by the arm and put her against the wall, before reloading his rifle and firing in short, controlled bursts, into the elites.

One's shields flared and burst. Weiss took the cue, firing right into the split-jawed freak's head. The round punched clean through, flinging its helmet off its head. The Corpse fell over the side, dropping to the floor with a wet _crack _as all of its vertebrae became a very dusty accordion. Its comrade maintained the barrage of plasma... Until the Banshee jumped up to it, slicing its weapon in half and stabbing it right through the gut.

She looked forth, to see a pair of guns similar to those guarding the first Jammer...

"No..." She whispered. And before she could react, the two Grunts filled her armor full of hot plasma, sending her toppling over the side of the railing. The Farseer gasped, standing to her feet and dashing to catch the woman. She felt her arm give in just as she grabbed the soldier out of mid-air. Both fell to the floor. A dozen holes peppered the wraitbone plating...

The Farseer took her helmet off, then said "Dammit... No..."

She watched with wide eyes as Weiss took out a bottle with a nozzle from her breast pocket, sliding said nozzle into the chest cavity of the Eldar Banshee and saying "Here, this may sting... _A lot... _But it will at least keep your guts with you until we can get you to a medic or, shaman or... Whatever it is you ayys have as medics." as she squeezed the trigger of the bottle... A pressurized _hiss _came and the wounds were filled with a self-inflating, cool, antiseptic and disinfectant-filled foam... The Banshee gripped Weiss's hand, squeezing against it and gritting her teeth...

"Easy does it, Ayy. You're breaking my hand." Weiss warned, then softened "What's your name?"

As the Eldar exhaled audibly through her teeth, she spoke "Aira..."

"Nice name. I'm Weiss Ackermann... And yes, my name literally translates to 'white' in my parents' native language, German." She said, cleaning out the wounds. She looked to the Farseer and Sergeant and said "She's stable, so she'll make it, but I'll stay with her... May I suggest you two start advancing toward the Jammer?" And she paused "Wait... Where's the Sergeant!?"

The Farseer went bug-eyed again and the two looked all over, until Weiss pointed to a pylon where Plasma blasts struck and boiled concrete. The Farseer's shoulders sagged. And she now started to feel a stabbing pain in her arm... She went to grab her singing spear, then said "I'll take care of him." rolling her eyes, before surging forward and raising her energy barrier and blocking Plasma rounds. She took cover just behind him, before asking "You _are _really insane, aren't you?"

"Eh, jury's still out on that one. Hell, the Major hasn't given me a Section-8 yet." He shrugged, taking cover as a round of Plasma smacked just beside his face. "Hey, quick question... Can you use your mind powers to hurl a grenade? And if yes, how far?"

"What are you planning this time?" She glared at him. He smirked, pulling a thin, hole-filled Grenade out of his pocket. She rolled her eyes, then said "I can hit between those turrets... What type of Grenade is it?" and she felt her heart start jumping as he pulled the pin. He smirked, then handed the Farseer the Grenade... She immediately launched it, boosting it with a Telekinetic blast...

It landed between the shooting Grunts, both of whom looked at it. And before the Farseer could say another word, the grenade 'went off', dazzling, but not killing the Grunts, with a loud bang and a flash. The Marine Sergeant, as he ran forth, raised his Assault Rifle and let rip his last magazine. Bullets pinged off the floor and the alloy that made up the Jammer and substantially killing the grunts. He pulled a rather large, square 'pack' out of his own carry bag. It had wires, switches a timer, as well as material that allowed it to stick to the Jammer.

He set the bomb onto the target, tapped in a few numbers on a keypad, spun a handle and slid said handle in. It beeped and the Marine walked away from the Charge, grin on his face and rifle leaning against his shoulder. He took out a small, square object with an antenna and flicked off the cover of a button, before pressing the button... The pack of High-Explosive materiel detonated, sending Shrapnel flying... And as the smoke cleared, all that remained of the Covenant object was a husk.

He bumped a fist into the Farseer's shoulder and wanted to compliment her, but she pinned the blade of her unpowered spear next to his throat. He chuckled, then said "Easy, Faen. I was just about to say you got a great arm. Might even play pitch in the Little Leagues if you want to, after the war..." And he pushed aside the spear, no fear in his eyes. "And the fist bump in the shoulder is a human way of saying 'nice job' without actually saying it, by the way."

She hummed, brow raised. He head his radio come to life, static bursting out of it with a high-pitched sound that rang in his ears. He groaned, slamming his hand into the side of his helmet, before he heard it... Radio traffic... '_This is Eagle 2-5, We got Radio back!' 'Lima-2-5 here! Radio's fuckin' working!' 'All units, all units, we got our radio working! Looks like Lima-9 lived through the fuckery and got our Radio working!' _

One transmission stood out among all others...

_"Attention all UNSC Marine units on the ground and in the air:This is Ballroom! General Koller speaking! Thanks to the Marine Platoon known as Lima-9, the Jammers installed by the Covenant have been destroyed, all radio contact has been reestablished and we've got a direct link to the Battlegroup upstairs! They're saying something about some kinda alien ships entering to reinforce them! They call themselves the Eldar and rumor has it that, among Lima-9's remaining forces is two platoons' worth of these new Alien allies of ours, with possibly more Groundside reinforcements incoming, so check your targets! If Major Wilhelm Connely and Sergeant Michael Reaver are alive and can hear this communique, HighCom wishes to speak with whoever came groundside to help us. The Covenant are in full retreat planetside, so the roads should be relatively clear! We are sending Air Support from FOB Oxcart and Pelicans for evacuation of wounded, as well as two platoons of Scorpion Battle Tanks! That is all! Ballroom, out!"_

The Sergeant's shoulders sagged. He sighed, relieved, and leaned against the wall, a smile on his face. He chuckled, then said "This is Lima-9! We're alive and on our way out from the ONI office building... And yeah, I got the commander of the Eldar's ground troops right her. Tell the vics to bring some food over from the base, I'm fuckin' starving and I'm sure my men are too... Lima-9 out."

Looking to the Farseer, he said "Nice work out there, Faen. Saved our asses."

The Farseer wanted to correct him... But she found not the strength to do so. Sighing and shaking her head, she walked straight to the elevators. The Sergeant chuckled, then said "Oh, come on, don't like the nickname, Faen? Faen. Faaeeeeeeen!" He kept pestering her, laughing all the while... She was starting to lose her patience... Only for him to add one final straw. "Oh, come on, Faen, y'know you love it!"

"I will shove the end of my spear down your throat if you do not shut up..." She snarled, stepping faster.

He laughed. "Yeah, you love it..."

"_I **WILL** THROW A LIGHTNING BOLT AT YOU, YOU MENTALLY-UNSTABLE NEANDERTHAL!" _She bellowed...

Weiss and Aira exchanged glances...

And the former snorted, while the latter planted a palm on her face...


	4. Kept you waiting

Gunfire drilled through a wall that served as cover. Fifth Company, UNSC Marine Corps moved in a staggered advance toward a Covenant staging area. A Marine with a Machine Gun emptied half a box onto the Covie lines in rapid-fire. Above, UNSC Longswords and intra-atmospheric unmanned fighters engaged the Covenant's own aircraft. Banshees and Drop Ships were being hammered with missiles and cannons enough to severely cripple many of them and destroy many others...

In the thick of the advance was the infantry battalion Reaver belonged to. Now reunited and with reinforcements deployed from the remaining UNSC Navy ships in high orbit, the Marines advanced under the cover of armor and air superiority, while the Eldar Navy dealt with the enemies in outer orbit. Reaver waved forward his Platoon, a grin on his face as he kicked down a Grunt and executed it with his Magnum. He took cover behind a piece of rubble, racking the bolt of his rifle, as the cannon of a Scorpion Main Battle Tank, aptly named due to its shape, fired.

The roar followed the High-Explosive 90mm round as it flew across the battlefield, before slamming into a Covenant anti-grav turret. The strange circular gun was knocked off its support generator, flung high into the sky only to land on top of a grunt, the gunner vaporized long before that, thanks to the explosion. A second gun died in a similar manner, then one of those odd Sniper's perches that the Covenant had.

Reaver and Weiss were at the front of the Infantry Formation, rifles at the ready... Weiss hummed "Man, I really miss the Farseer already..."

"Think she would'a helped us punch through?" Reaver asked, standing up and firing blindly into the Covenant lines.

"Yeah." Weiss poked her head out and snapped off one round into an unshielded Elite's head. She heard two grenades being primed and looked over head to see them, lobbed at an incredibly high angle, before a Spartan appeared in front of them, clad in silver armor with a blue trim and wielding an M45 Shotgun, the tall supersoldier stood above the Marines, on top of their cover, glancing plasma shots scarring part of her armor... Her ID Tag read _Sheila-065._ Chief Petty Officer.

Reaver grinned, then cried out "WE GOT A SPARTAN ON DECK!"

Several Marines' cheers echoed across the lines, with the woman nodding to Reaver. She looked to him and said "I'm commandeering your platoon, Sergeant. We've got a rescue mission to undertake. HVT stuck in the ONI complex nearby."

"Well, son of a bitch..." Whispered Reaver, furrowing his brows. "You got it, ma'am." He nodded. The Marine Sergeant stood up and yelled back "ALRIGHT, MARINES! WE'RE UNDER THE CHIEF PETTY OFFICER'S COMMAND! LET'S KICK SOME COVIE ASS!" with a grin. His platoon stood up and moved forward, joining them at the front of the line, with the Spartan drawing her Side-Arm and firing. Three shots popped an Elite's skull like a pinata.

She nodded to them, giving several hand signals and then urging them forward in formation. The friendly Scorpion tank fired again, destroying enemy cover and giving the unspoken start of the Spartan's advance. She surged forth, shotgun in hand, with the Marines trailing her at maximum speed. Guns rattled and bullets punched through concrete and wall panels...

A grenade sent a Grunt flying sky high and a rifle raked another enemy position with lead. The Marines ran beside their Spartan with grins on their faces as another round left the barrel of the Scorpion. Reaver delivered a rifle-butt to the face of an Elite, before pummeling it to the floor and emptying his magazine into its head with no remorse. He heard the crack of Weiss's DMR and watched as a Jackal dropped on the right, its Plasma Carbine clattering to the floor.

Reloading her Shotgun in three swift moves, the Spartan fired all shells a second apart from one-another. The slug rounds perforated an Elite's shields and sent it to the floor, where the Spartan woman was quick to plow a knife into its throat and grab its Plasma Rifle after attaching the shotgun to the mag-lock holster on her back. The stream of plasma that left the weapon's front cut a swath into the Grunts charging them with Plasma Grenades.

Weiss's rifle popped another head as she continued switching positions and watching as their SAW Gunners moved with her, their guns letting out bursts every so often. A Grenade Launcher's _thunk_ echoed and the explosive 40mm Grenade arched down into another Covenant position, detonating upon impact. The cleanup crew of Marine Rifles followed quickly with a barrage of rounds.

The advancing Marines didn't stall their movement, keeping up with their Spartan NCO to the best of their abilities. Lead continued to fly, met by Plasma and Needles, but the Marines continued unabated. Reaver, at the forefront, nabbed a Shotgun off of one of their fallen comrades, racking the pump and blasting away. He grinned, watching as Weiss mounted a bayonet on her rifle, then asked "Planning a bit of a close-in?"

"Stabbing time." She grinned. "What about you, boss. Slam-Fire?"

"Slam-Fire." He grinned back.

He perked himself over a piece of rubble and unleashed a wave of Shotgun shells into the heads of Grunts, with the last shell in the tube bursting an Elite's shields. He slung the pellet-spewing weapon on his back, before drawing his handgun and blasting the Elite right in the head. The creature went limp, falling both forward and back as its momentum carried it.

He switched back to his MA5 and raked an enemy position. Two Marines tossed frags into the nest that housed a Plasma turret and its operator. The Spartan, meanwhile, kicked, punched, stabbed and shot like no tomorrow. She waved Reaver and his squad forward as they approached the entry point they were gonna be using:A hole in the side of the building.

"Here!" Sheila waved Reaver forth. "Stick close and watch your fire."

"Aye, ma'am." He nodded in answer, dropping the half-empty clip from his AR and slamming in a fresh one. One hand motion from the Petty Officer and the squad jumped to their feet, pushing inside. Weiss's DMR popped a Jackal with a Needle Rifle up above. Two Marines took a knee behind a rather large plant pot that had its content burned away by Plasma, before letting loose a stream of rounds.

As another Marine stepped inside, however, a Jackal's beam rifle punched clean through his helmet, sending the rocket launcher-carrying soldier to the floor. Another Marine who tried to sprint the distance took a needle in the hip from another Jackal and a third was cut in half by an Elite's Energy Sword. That Elite tasted two Shotgun shells seconds later, its skull split in half by the blast.

Reaver and Weiss raked the top of the stairwell where Grunts were trying to set up a Plasma Turret, before moving to advance with Sheila. Reaver was grinning as he dumped mags into his targets. Weiss's aim was still dead-on as the snipers that killed some of their comrades went down. The entire Marine platoon advanced behind Sheila, fast and hard. Enough so that the Grunts facing them started turning tail and running. The Elite squad there to maintain order held position, however.

A dozen elites versus a Spartan and some dozen Marines?

Not fair odds, really.

Sheila rammed the first Elite hard enough to pin him to the floor, before she let her Shotgun bark, splattering purple blood and brain matter on the floor. She swiveled about and fired again. Assault Rifle, DMR and Battle Rifle broke shields, then armor, skin and finally bone. The soldiers of Mankind let none retreat as corpses now littered the top of the atrium that served as ONI Headquarters' reception. Casings, shells and blood pooled at the feet of the Marines as they formed a perimeter, to make sure the area was secure.

The Petty Officer had gone onto one of the computers to look for data on who they were searching for. With an approving nod, she stepped away and said "Sublevel two. Unless the Covies already got to her, we can get the VIP out."

"Roger." Reaver noted... He watched as what looked like a Covenant vehicle appeared by the doors, raising his weapon. He paused upon seeing a squad of Eldar pour out of the hovertank, its weapons firing bursts of white-hot projectiles at an unseen Covenant force. These Eldar, Reaver remembered, were Howling Banshees. He'd seen them fight beside the Farseer with the grace of a ballet dancer and might of a Spartan.

"Lieutenant Reaver." The Exarch of the squad nodded to the man.

"Exarch." He nodded back, smirking. "Good to have you around. Chief Petty Officer, these are the Eldar."

"I've seen them around..." Sheila noted. "Good to finally meet some friendly aliens for a change..."

The Exarch eyed the super-soldier suspiciously, then said matter-of-factly. "Humans are not usually this tall..."

"Yeah, well, we don't usually see humanoids with sharp ears helping us either, Exarch." The Spartan responded calmly. She racked her shotgun, then offered her hand "Though today has been a day for surprises." and the Eldar soldier shook it.

"Indeed." She mused. "What are you here for?"

"To recover a sensitive asset that, if captured by the Covenant, could spell problems. For all of us."

A burst of Plasma Rifle fire washed Sheila's armor. She staggered, then turned around and drew her sidearm to snap off two shots. The Exarch took this as a signal to charge ahead, drawing her blade and letting loose the famous scream of the Banshee. Several of the Marines winced, but continued firing nonetheless, while the Spartan's armor allowed her to tune out the Psionic noise, if only partially.

She kicked a Grunt right in the mouth, breaking its mask, before executing it at point-blank with the shotgun. The Exarch slashed an Elite across its armored chest, her sisters joining in and gutting two other Elites. Blood stained the floor below, pooling at the feet of the human and Eldar soldiers as they continued their unrelenting advance. The group moved in unison, down the tight corridors and narrow stairwells of the ONI building, descending and fighting their way deeper into the building.

Blade and gun danced, painting the walls various shades of Alien blood. The Sergeant's boot met the face of an Elite that was on the floor and Assault Rifle rounds tore armored plates and burned out shields, while the swords of Banshees and the shotgun of the Spartan broke their backs. The Sergeant rammed himself headfirst into an Elite, punting the bastard to the ground before he got a chance to draw his Energy Sword. The man then pinned him down with his boot and emptied another mag.

The Exarch cut down another Elite, while the Spartan covered her back by blasting a Jackal aiming a needler at her. The Eldar looked to the Spartan female, then asked "Are humans usually this crazy?" while motioning to the Sergeant.

The Spartan huffed, ramming the ass-end of her shotgun into another Elite that had just decloaked, a special operations member, before she rammed the barrel between its split jaws and blasted. Sheila then 'winked' at the Space Elf(more of a tilt of her helmet to the left to hint at the motion) and quipped "Only the good ones. Now, c'mon. We're nearly there." to garner a blush out of the Eldar girl.

The Exarch rolled her eyes while her sisters chuckled. She shot a glance to them, then raised her Shuriken pistol without even looking and snapped off three shots into an Elite right beside Sheila. She looked to the Spartan, a brow raised at her and a tilt of the head with a faint smirk. The Spartan said "Thanks." without a second thought, before they rushed forward.

The team had arrived in front of a broken door made of reinforced starship-grade titanium. It was melted in parts, hint that the Covvies'd have used plasma charges to burst through. And going by the sound of movement inside, they weren't out yet. The Sergeant grinned again, then looked to Weiss. He urged her forward, then handed her a FLIR sight. She let out a chortle, then looked down the scope.

"Three Elite Zealots... Plus-minus one or two Spec-Ops. Can't tell since there's faint distortions from the cloak. Sarge-" She paused as she heard him rack the bolt of his AR. She sighed, then looked to the Spartan and said "Ma'am... Can you keep him safe? I'll try to snipe whatever I can from here."

"He ran in..." The Exarch looked absolutely dumbfound

Despite her face being covered by the helmet, the Exarch could feel Sheila grinning behind it as she spoke "Like I said. Only the best ones." before she hopped inside too. The thunder of rifle and shotgun came back to the team, with the Exarch staring at the flashes inside the dark room with wide eyes. She and her team stepped inside, following in and drawing their swords.

Entering the fight, the Exarch parried an Energy Sword with her own powered blade, before slashing a Zealot clean across the neck. She then drew and fired her pistol into an amorphous blob of distorting light, shattering the shield and cloak that kept the Elite hidden within the first shots, with the next cutting through the alien like a hot knife through butter.

The Sergeant's rifle chattered and bullets bounced off of a charging Zealot's shield. The man's rifle clicked empty, so he raised it up to block the sword of the lunging elite. The weapon wound up cut in half, with the Marine dodge-rolling, pulling his knife out of its sheath. He rolled under another strike, swept up and stabbed the Elite in his exposed abdomen, before feeling it grab him and toss him across the room.

The knife had, however, broken its shield. The pellets from Sheila's shotgun and a snapshot from Weiss sent the bastard tumbling to the floor. The last Elite staggered and was cut down by two more Marines that joined in, rifles barking like rabid dogs at him until his shields and then armor collapsed with him inside. Reaver chuckled, slowly standing to his feet and walking toward the Elite he'd dug his knife into. He pulled the blade out, wiped it of blood and slid it back into its sheath.

"You are one crazy Marine, Sarge." Sheila noted, approaching him and the package.

The man grinned wider "Thanks, ma'am. I try."

"Heh. Alright..." The woman sidestepped, then got to the front of the package. The Marines, all of them, soon realized that this was a cryotube. An owned, occupied Cryotube. Sheila leaned forward, wiping the icing off of the name plate, then she gasped. Quickly, she wiped away the condensation on the glass, to lock her eyes onto a blonde-haired woman that still looked far too young for it to be natural. Sheila snorted, then said "No wonder ONI wanted us in here..."

"Is..." The Marine Sergeant took to Sheila's side "Is that...?"

"The mother of the Spartan program, pretty much. Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey." Sheila hummed and whispered "It's been too long, doc..." leaning in. She spoke to the Sergeant "Get on the com and hail us a bird or a cab back to the Firebase. I'll wake the doc up and walk her to the Pelican."

"We shall provide escort." The Exarch offered "No reason to leave allies unattended."

Sheila nodded to her, then said "Thanks. Name's Sheila, by the way. What's yours?"

"I am Exarch Caentys. An honor to meet you, Spartan Sheila." The woman bowed respectfully. "We shall stand watch while you awake your doctor."

"Right." The Spartan nodded. She looked to the Sergeant, who gave a nod, before tapping his microphone.

He spoke "FOB Oxcart, FOB Oxcart, this is Lima-9. We've secured the VIP within the ONI building, requesting immediate evacuation at our coordinates ASAP."

"_Lima niner, Oxcart. We heard you loud and clear. We have times two Pelicans on the way to you, with an added ground element from the 455th Drop Battalion. We'll see you home. Oxcart out."_

The man looked to Sheila and gave her a thumbs up, before looking around. He walked to an Elite and picked up his weapon, a grin on his face, before looking to Weiss and asking "How's it look?" and garnering a chuckle out of the Sharpshooter. She gave the man an approving nod, before rolling her eyes and walking toward an elite. He slid the weapon on his hip, then walked up to the Exarch and spoke "We'll be going out to wave the evac ships and our boys with ATVs over." then he went and asked" By the way... Where's the Farseer?"

"Currently, in a meeting with the Council aboard our Craftworld, I would presume..." Sighed the Swordmistress "She acted rashly and put many of us in danger... So they say, at least. They must've been asleep when the Covenant fired first."

The Marine laughed "I bet... So we're not the only ones who have our share of bad bureaucracy, huh?"

"I would suppose not." Caentys gave the human a faint smile. Her hand went instinctively to the hilt of her sheathed sword as the hiss of steam came to them. The soldiers looked to the cryo-pod as it opened, then they watched the good scientist slowly wake up. The woman blinked twice, her vision blurry. Her eyes darted around, before finally settling on the familiar armored frame of the Spartan ahead of her.

Breathing in, then coughing, the Doctor leaned onto the Spartan for support. She asked "Sheila?"

"Hey, doc Halsey." Sheila smirked behind her helmet "How do you feel?"

"As if I was hit by a train..." She groaned, then she spit a strange liquid to the side. Her vision slowly began to clear as she regained her senses, straightening up onto her own two feet and able to stand without Sheila's help. She offered a nod in thanks to the Spartan, before gazing past her. With wide eyes, the doctor took a step back, shocked as if she stared at a monster or an apparition. But in fact, she stared at Caentys and her sisterhood, who in turn showed respect to the doctor.

"... What did... I miss?" She asked the Spartan.

"Oh... A lot." Her response. She looked to Caentys, then quipped "Like... _A lot _a lot."

"We'll brief you on the flight over to Oxcart, doc. For now, we should really move out." The Sergeant said. Quickly going from quippy to his serious stance, the man made several hand gestures indicative of combat signals to his team, which scattered to do the orders given via this non-verbal language. Efficiently, the team took up defensive positions and moved for the outside, with the Sergeant offering a nod to Sheila and the doc and saying "We'll clear out the landing zone. See you there."

Sheila nodded, as did Halsey, before the Doctor's eyes once again fell on the Banshee Exarch.

"... What..." She whispered to herself "Have we met while I was oh, so soundly asleep...?"


End file.
